Rowen Cameron, Author at Thumb Culture

9Oct

By Rowen Cameron1 Comment

PC Reviews

Bilkins’ Folly – PC Review

When is a pirate not a pirate? When they’re a ‘treasure hunter’, of course! Sailing, swashbuckling and grog is all fine and dandy, but finding long lost booty is the meat of the matter. Of course, most modern pirate-themed games include this, as they should. But often it’s with the aid of a detailed map, HUD and quest markers. Bilkins’ Folly by Webbysoft takes it firmly back to basics, embracing the maps, methods and mania of a true treasure hunter. Percival Bilkins is the young heir of a line of famous treasure hunters, eager to live up to the family name. His mother and grandfather disappeared when he was just a young boy. Now of age, he sets sail with his faithful dog Drayton on a quest to find them. But a dreadful storm finds the pair shipwrecked on a deserted island without bearing...

26Sep

By Rowen CameronNo Comments

PC Reviews

The Tartarus Key – PC Review

Despite the plethora of high-definition scares out there, low-poly indie horrors have experienced a surge in recent years. There's an audience out there eager for PS1-style spoopy entertainment. Following the success of their visual novel game Aviary Attorney, Portugal-based studio Vertical Reach decided to trade sparrows for scares. From this came The Tartarus Key, a psychological horror adventure game with both a Saw-esque nature and an eldritch aura. You play Alex Young, an average teenager who wakes up in a strange mansion. She has no memory of how she got there, but cameras watch her every move. Doors are locked with puzzles and devious contraptions. And it seems as though she is not the only one trapped here. But things take an ominous turn when Alex begins to hear things, see thi...

31Aug

By Rowen Cameron2 Comments

PC Reviews

Full Void – PC Review

Cinematic platformers are a rare find. Lost relics of gaming past, they are a sub-genre that only surfaces sporadically; very few games are classified as such to date. Even less that truly tap into the feel of ‘90s titles like Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee/Exoddus, Heart of Darkness and Another World. I myself spent many hours on the former two as a kid - dying many and sundry times, of course. So when one comes along that does, it immediately gets my attention. Full Void by OutOfTheBit Ltd is one such game. This pixel art platformer paints a bleak (and perhaps now not so outrageously farfetched) picture of a grim future. A rogue A.I. has taken over a sprawling city and controls mankind. Menacing machines now patrol the dilapidated streets and alleys. The only hope lies in a runaway teenage b...

Tails: The Backbone Preludes – PC Review

31Jul

By Rowen CameronNo Comments

PC Reviews

Tails: The Backbone Preludes – PC Review

In 2021, Egg Nut Games and Raw Fury showed us that the world of animals was even more gritty and complex as our own with noir pixel art game Backbone. Following raccoon P.I. Howard Lotor, players were thrown into a world of intrigue and conspiracy and were left with some questions hanging in the air. 2 years later, they return to share how it all began with prequel Tails: The Backbone Preludes. Tails takes place years before the events of its predecessor, showing the beginnings of its key characters. Backbone protagonist Howard Lotor returns, as does reporter Renee Wilson and mob boss Clarissa Bloodworth. Joined by newcomer Eli Abbas, four stories of growth, discovery, intrigue and danger paint a picture of Vancouver's past. What is beyond the city walls? How did a don’s granddaughter m...

24Feb

By Rowen Cameron1 Comment

Switch Reviews

Clive ‘N’ Wrench – Switch Review

There are few gaming genres more nostalgic and fondly remembered than 3D platformers. Games like Banjo-Kazooie, Jak & Daxter and Ratchet & Clank were hits with the popular hero/sidekick or dynamic duo formula. For the majority of gamers born pre-2000, these were a huge part of their virtual journeys. And like a cosy comfort blanket, they hold warm memories begging to be revisited. Clive ‘N’ Wrench from Dinosaur Bytes Studio, published by Numskull Games, looks to resurrect those fuzzy platforming memories. And in many ways, indeed it does. But it also revives some memories of 3D platforming that we’d rather forget. In an anthropomorphic animated world, the tyrannical Dr Daucus looks to conquer space and time. To facilitate this, he has stolen Professor Nancy Merricarp’s time trav...

22Feb

By Rowen CameronNo Comments

PC Reviews

Elderand – PC Review

Titles like Blasphemous and Dead Cells brought the brutal challenge of the Souls series to the realm of Metroivania and proved to be quite the hit. Published by Graffiti Games, Elderand by Mantra and Sinergia Games is a pixel-art Metroidvania platformer/RPG that pits you against gruesome Lovecraft-inspired foes and terrifying bosses. While it doesn’t break new ground in the genre, it follows the formula solidly and ultimately provides an enjoyable experience. You are an enigmatic mercenary, contracted to stem the tide of evil wrought by the cult of Sserthis. The realm of Elderand needs you. But your ship is doomed to sink and you have washed ashore with little more than the soaked clothes on your back. Using your skills and the weapons you source along the way, you must battle your way ...

7Feb

By Rowen CameronNo Comments

PC Reviews

A Space For The Unbound – PC Review

Emotive sojourns are widespread in the indie scene, even beginning to become more prevalent in AAA territory. But rarely do they shed light on a relatively unknown region, be deeply relatable and also mind-bogglingly engrossing all at once. A Space For The Unbound by Mojiken Studio is a side-scrolling pixel art adventure that is both a warm, familiar embrace and a propulsion into a vortex of raw, all-encompassing emotion. Set in a fictional rural Indonesian town in the ‘90s, you play as protagonist Atma, journeying through high school life with his sweetheart Raya. But humdrum everyday life soon becomes anything but humdrum. Both possess supernatural abilities, Atma is troubled by dreams that feel familiar and a mysterious force threatens their very existence. What follows is a journey ...

6Dec

By Rowen CameronNo Comments

PC Reviews

Cats and the Other Lives – PC Review

The overwhelming success of Stray back in July showed that the gaming world is hungry for more feline-centric adventures. Turkish studio Cultic Games’ latest release is one to further whet the appetite by bringing a more mature cat adventure to the realm of pixels. Part point-and-click adventure, part interactive fiction, Cats and the Other Lives is a 2D pixel art experience that tells the story of a fractured family through the eyes of a stalwart family companion. And good news for Steam Deck owners: this title is fully compatible and can be played on the go! When eccentric patriarch Bernard Mason dies, the estranged Mason family are brought back to their childhood home once more. As beloved pet cat Aspen, players uncover painful truths, suppressed memories and desiccated aspirations t...

23Sep

By Rowen Cameron1 Comment

PC Reviews

Beacon Pines – PC Review

Changing fate and becoming a master of one’s own story is something everyone longs to be able to do. Indie developer Hiding Spot Games puts this front and centre with a blend of childlike inquisitiveness and dark, complex machinations only the adult mind can comprehend. Enter Beacon Pines. A BRANCHING TALE While visual novels aren't a big draw, adventure and choose-your-own-adventure games are soft spots for me. Beacon Pines is both. Being one of my Steam Next Fest highlights, I feverishly kept up with all updates on it. So like the art-loving, narrative-absorbing bibliophile I am, I was ready to get lost in the pages of a good book! Gameplay Beacon Pines tells the story of… well… a story! You are both the reader of a self-narrating book and its protagonist, young jackalope Luka VanHo...

22Sep

By Rowen CameronNo Comments

Previews & Early Access

Batora: Lost Haven – PC Press Preview

Team 17 and Stormind Games team up for a quest of interplanetary proportions releasing on October 20th. Batora: Lost Haven is an isometric action RPG that combines fast-paced, skill-swapping combat with a choice-driven story spanning a vast cosmos. After a cataclysmic event, Earth was driven to the brink of complete destruction. The remaining inhabitants are forced to carve out a way to survive as best they can. You play as Avril, a thrill-seeking teenager with a troubled past, chosen to be the vessel of the deities Sun and Moon and wielder of their supernatural powers. With these new abilities and the support of best friend Mila, Avril must journey across alien planets to save her home. Duality Shaping Destiny Isometric action RPGs are a sizeable (and ever-growing) section of my gaming ...